Chapter 19 - THE BROTHER AT THE HARBOR
Miles chose the meeting place.
A disused ferry terminal on the south side of the harbor, where the wind carried the smell of salt and diesel through broken windows. We arrived just before sunset. Graham insisted on bringing a small security team, but Miles had requested that no one approach the building until he gave a signal.
I stood beside Graham near the entrance.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“No.”
He gave a small, sad smile. “Neither am I.”
A light flashed from an upper window.
Matteo nodded. “That's the signal.”
Graham went inside first.
I followed.
The room was dim, lit by a single work lamp. A man stood near the far wall, wearing a dark coat. His hair was longer than in the photograph. A scar crossed his jaw. He looked thinner, older, and more tired than the brother Graham remembered.
But he was unmistakably Miles.
Graham stopped.
Neither man spoke.
Then Miles took one step forward.
“Hey.”
Graham's face twisted.
He crossed the room and grabbed his brother by the shoulders.
For a moment, I thought he might hit him.
Instead, he pulled him into an embrace so fierce that Miles staggered.
“You're alive,” Graham whispered.
“I'm alive.”
“You're an idiot.”
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
Miles closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Graham pulled away, anger and relief fighting across his face.
“Why didn't you call?”
“Because Everett had people watching every person who came to the hospital. He knew you would come for me. If you had, he would have used you to find the evidence.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“I did trust you. That's why I stayed away.”
Graham looked down.
Miles turned toward me.
“Audrey Lennox.”
I nodded. “Miles Vale.”
He gave a tired smile. “Your father saved my life.”
“He never told me.”
“He wanted you to have a normal life.”
I almost laughed. “That worked out beautifully.”
Miles's expression softened.
“I know. I'm sorry.”
He placed a small envelope on the table.
“There's more.”
Graham opened it.
Inside were copies of messages between Everett and Charles Vale, along with a list of payments to the inspection office. The final page contained a transfer authorization for a company that had received money after the collapse.
The company was registered in my father's name.
I felt my stomach drop.
“My father never owned this company.”
“No,” Miles said. “It was created using his information. Everett used it to move the money and make it look like your father's company had profited from the altered report.”
“That's why everyone believed he was responsible.”
“Exactly.”
Graham looked at the documents. “Why did you keep these?”
“Because I needed proof. I couldn't come back with rumors.”
“Who helped you?”
Miles glanced toward the entrance.
“Someone you haven't seen yet.”
A woman stepped out of the shadows.
She was in her late fifties, with short silver hair and a cane.
Charlotte.
Graham turned sharply. “You said you didn't know where he was.”
“I didn't,” she replied. “Not until yesterday.”
Miles looked at her. “She helped arrange the meeting.”
Graham's expression hardened.
“Why should I trust either of you?”
“You shouldn't,” Miles said. “Not blindly. Trust the documents. Trust the people who can verify them.”
I looked at the woman who had arranged my marriage and hidden the truth about my father.
“What do you want now?” I asked.
Charlotte met my eyes.
“To stop being afraid.”
Before anyone could answer, Matteo's radio crackled.
“Sir, vehicles approaching the east entrance. Three of them.”
Miles went pale.
“They found us.”
Graham took my hand.
“Stay behind me.”
But Miles shook his head.
“No. We leave together.”
May you like
For the first time in four years, the brothers stood side by side.
And outside, the headlights were getting closer.
